Sukooon Resort 1st Indian Chess.com League Starts On Friday
The Sukooon Resort 1st Indian Chess.com League starts on Friday (15th May). Ten strong teams with an average above 2400 will compete in this unique league with a minimum prize fund of ₹1,00,000.
We have got in some exciting companies that are sponsoring this event along with Chess.com and they are Sukooon Resort, who are the title sponsors, and the U-16 category prizes are sponsored by Maestro Chess Academy, Hyderabad.
In this short preview, we've got you highlights of the team composition and thoughts of some of the captains.
Captain of Team Chess Gurkul, GM RB Ramesh's thoughts:
"It is nice to know that Sukooon Resort 1st Indian Chess.com League is happening in India and my team, Chess Gurukul is happy to be a part of it. We have some very strong players in our team like Praggnanandhaa, current National Champion Aravindh Chithambaram, 2 tie former National Champion Karthikeyan Murali, WGM Vaishali R and young talented player IM Aditya Mittal. We wish the tournament all success and hope the best performing team win the event!"
Captain of Team Five Fighters - GM Vishnu Prasanna's thoughts:
"We are happy to be part of the Sukooon resort 1st Indian chess league. We are all close to each other and our spirits are high and we are looking forward to a fun event. First of all congratulations to the organisers for the initiative. Leagues are a good way of making playing chess sustainable in India and so I wish this continues in the future and even becomes bigger."
Captain of Team Chess Thulir - GM Shyam Sundar's thoughts:
"My team's name is 'Chess Thulir' and this also happens to be the name of my academy which I started few weeks ago! Only Nandhidhaa is my student and I'm glad that others agreed to play for my team I believe my team is quite well balanced on all the boards and capable of creating upsets any day! Since childhood I have always had the liking towards team events, so I was excited when I came to know about this event. I thank the organising committee for making it a strong event by having rating restriction of minimum 2400. I would also like to thank the sponsors for making the event happen. I hope such events happen frequently and I also wish to a part of it. "
Captain of Team Undercover Agents - IM Padmini Rout's thoughts:
"Will be an interesting experience to play with and captain a young team at the SukooonICL online Indian Chess League at chess.com, first of it's kind. Looking forward to it."
"The Indian Chess League is something that the Indian chess fraternity is craving for many years. Glad its finally happening. The fact that so many GMs have signed up is a just indication that it has a huge potential to grow especially online. Honoured to be a part of it through the Desi Boys. We have a nice mix. Abhijeet, Vaibhav and Debashish can all win on demand. Tania is still one of the best woman players in the country and Raahil obviously is one of the best talents around. We are keeping our fingers crossed!
A team of youth, and only youth! That’s what you can say about this team when you see a lineup filled with players like Abhimanyu Puranik, Raja Rithvik, Aakanksha Hagwane.
These youngsters may not be high on rating average, but they are high on hopes to win this prestigious title of the 1st edition of Indian Chess.com League.
You can define this team by their name “Superkids” a team full of young blood, including their young and always a kid at heart captain GM Narayanan Srinath, who will be steering this ship with the hope to win the 1st Indian Chess.com League.
This team boasts of prodigious talents like GM Nihal Sarin, WIM Divya Deshmukh etc.
Captain of Team United India - IM M Nubairshah Shaikh's thoughts: "Team United India is excited & looking forward to participate in very first edition of ICL!"
When you have an Indian league, it also makes a lot of sense to have a team that calls itself “United India”. This team with an average rating of 2472 packs a punch as it has one of the highest-rated women players in India IM Bhakti Kulkarni on their side.
The young stars are Prithu Gupta, and Harsha Bharathakoti, who for sure will keep us enthralled with their fearless chess and this team is indeed a dark horse. A team that fans all over India will support unitedly!
Captain of Team Chess Gyaan, GM M R Venkatesh's thoughts:
I'm glad to be part of the Chess.com Indian Chess League sponsored by Sukooon Resort, which is a good initiative and the event will see most of our Grandmasters, International masters and the promising youngsters in action. I think its going to be a wonderful event and I hope the spectators will have good time enjoying our games. I take this opportunity to thank the sponsors for their support in spite of the pandemic. Our (Chess Gyaan) team has a good mix of players, we will give our best and hope to qualify for the superfinals. Let's have fun!
Captain of Team Chess Pathshala, GM Swapnil Dhopade's thoughts:
"A league is usually a very entertaining tournament format to play for Chess player's. Chess is basically an individual sport but chess players crave to get that feel to play in team format which this Sukooon Resorts Indian chess.com league will surely satisfy.
It is a good initiative by the organizing team to conduct such league tournament in this period of lockdown. The young players get to learn a lot from the experienced ones in the team.
As far as Chess Pathshala team is concerned it is a mix of youth and experience. We are glad to have GM Sethuraman, the top rated player of the league, in our team. I am sure the youngsters will learn a lot from him.
Lastly I would like to thank Sukooon Resort for sponsoring the league and hope they will keep supporting us in the future. All the best to the organizers in the successful conduct of this tournament. Looking forward to it."
The team that has the highest rated individual in this event GM S.P.Sethuraman with a rating of 2644 can never be taken lightly! This team has the right balance of youth and experience, as you have Swapnil and Sethuraman to guide the team, and the young blood is Sankalp, Krishnater, and Mrudul who would be raring to show their skills in the event.
Games start at 4pm IST on Chess.com on Friday - 15th May. Pairings can be found on Chess-results.
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Currently work as a community manager for Chess.com India.
I have a GM norm and an IM norm. Became a FIDE Trainer recently. Coached two Indian Teams for the Olympiad for PWD. Apart from playing and teaching chess, I dabble in writing and reading. Can speak in English, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and Marathi. I recently wrote a short story titled 'Over a Cup of Chai' that's available on amazon. My last novel 'The Lively Library & An Unlikely Romance' is a story of a library where books come to life at night.
My username was Geborgenheit previously.
Geborgenheit is a german word which is hard to explain. It can only be experienced; It could also be inner peace of your soul. Google says 'security' but it is more than that!
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